Sir Fred's Private Meeting

Sir Fred "The Shred" Goodwin, the disgraced ex head of RBS, has attempted to avoid publicity by requesting that a meeting called for today by the FSA be held in the office of his lawyers rather than at the FSA's own offices.

Clearly, as with RBS's financial strategy during Goodwin's tenure, that idea has come rather unstuck as the media have picked up the story.

The adverse publicity about the meeting has now called into question the actual timing, lest there be any "naughty" journalists waiting outside the offices keen to ask Goodwin a question.

Ad to whether this meeting actually yields anything tangible (aside from a slap on the wrist fine for Goodwin) remains to be seen:

1 RBS is now effectively owned by the taxpayer, yet the banking sector itself has no reformed and continues to pay itself very generously and trade in high risk derivatives despite bringing this country close to financial collapse.

2 The FSA is likely to be shut down by the government.

3 Sir Fred appears to be enjoying the fruits of his labours. He recently met with the Duke of York (one assume that Fergie didn't arrange that), and has bought £3.5M "fortress" in Edinburgh.

Let us trust that the banking sector is reformed in time, before we are hit with the next crisis which will most assuredly bankrupt this nation.